The Complete Sherlock Holmes

The adventures of a detective who solves various criminal cases. The unique atmosphere of England attracts people to read this book. Sherlock Holmes is a person who impresses with his intelligence and ability to solve difficult criminal cases. Book for people who like crime stories. I read it out of curiosity, because there is a movie.

No doubt this was a masterpiece when it was written and completely revolutionary. When I read it for the first time it was some of the first fiction I had experienced. It shaped my view of the world and how fiction should be written. Looking back I realize how awful it really was. Each story tends to follow a particular pattern. It is not the pattern that is the problem but how it is implemented. Depressed Sherlock has to be convinced into solving a case. He gets excited over some random little detail. We get presented with the facts and Sherlock ponders while taking drugs. He makes an assumption that is wrong and leads him down a rabbit hole where he ends up with nothing. Doyle realizes he has written himself into a corner and Sherlock comes out with some random fact that he found using bullshit means that completely solves the case. Not all of the stories are like this and there are a few fantastic stories. In my opinion good mystery should be solvable by those following along. Set up some good Chekhovs guns in the beginning that an astute reader can pick up on which solve the mystery later when summed with the rest of the clues. Again, some of these stories do just that. Typically though Sherlock solves the mystery by pulling 30 jars of dirt never before mentioned that he collected from around London that he uses to match the dirt on some guys shoe. Deus ex machina defines Sherlock's character which is disappointing cause intelligent people really do exist and don't have to rely on plot contrivances to be clever.

Maybe I am missing the point because most Sherlock spinoffs tend to follow this pattern too. I thought Hound of the Baskervilles was the worst example of this and yet its the most popular Sherlock story.
If you want a mystery story that you have to read multiple times to catch the clues and puzzle out the answer then Sherlock is not your man. These are action adventure novels that star Sherlock as a god tier intellect that just solves the mysteries for you. I really do find it funny that HoB whole point is that logic and reason trumps the supernatural but its Sherlocks supernatural powers of finding exactly the right fact off screen that solves the case. The O.G. Sherlock books are great for people who want to be treated like Watson is treated i.e. like a dumb dumb baby who couldn't possibly solve anything.

TL;DR I like books that are clever and have the solution in the pages. I like rereading books that have the solution in them so I feel clever for putting together the pieces. These books do not leave clues for you to solve Sherlock just does everything for you. This is a collection of passable adventure stories and garbage mystery